This invention relates to ordnance weapons, and more particularly to an improved pressure relief valve for attachment to the muzzle end of barrels of blank firing weapons to provide recoil thereto.
Blank ammunition is used extensively in troop training maneuvers and military ceremonies.
Conventionally, the barrel for firing blanks was often equipped at its muzzle end with a blank firing attachment which is attached to a rigid barrel jacket. The blank firing attachment consisted of a containing member having a small aperture facing the open end of the muzzle. Because the aperture easily became fouled or clogged, and because the containing member tended to trap unburnt propellant residues, this blank firing attachment proved generally unsatisfactory.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,941,029 issued to me on Mar. 2, 1976, for "Pressure Relief Valve for Providing Recoil to Blank-Firing Weapons", there is described a pressure relief valve which is screwed into the muzzle end of the barrel of a recoil operated weapon firing blank cartridges and into which the propellant gases provide barrel recoil and which at the same time will prevent or minimize residue buildup in the gun barrel. Such pressure relief valve although effective, is expensive to manufacture and to install in a recoil operated weapon, and its versatility is limited to a unique type of recoil operated weapon system.
It is thus a principal object of this invention to provide an improved pressure relief valve system for any recoil operated blank firing weapon which is economical to manufacture, easy to install on the weapon, and which is effective in minimizing or prevent corrosive residue buildup in the weapon.
It is another object of this invention to provide an improved pressure relief valve system which can be used to improve performance on any recoil operated blank firing weapon by allowing for precise control of pressure-time characteristics of blank ammunition.
Another object of this invention is to provide a recoil operated weapon barrel with an improved pressure relief valve system which can be utilized to recoil the barrel when blank cartridges are fired and to relieve the gas pressure therein and in which the weapon is not readily fouled, clogged, or corroded upon repeated firings of blank ammunition therein.
Still another object of this invention is to provide an improved pressure relief valve which provides both recoil to a recoil operated blank firing weapon and rapid venting of the propellant gases therein.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved pressure relief valve which is easily attached to a gun barrel to fire blank ammunition, and which can be removed from the weapon for firing live ammunition as well as blank ammunition.
Further objects and attendant advantages of the invention will become more apparent in light of the following description of the preferred embodiment .